Upgrade StorageUI Ideas for the Attachment Viewer
I'd like to see the Viewer match the Library in functionality and structure by the addition of Attachment Data to the Attachment Viewer Sidebar (see separate discussion [1]). It would then make sense to group data by hierarchy (Attachment, Item, Library) as Views in this Sidebar, and would motivate future-proof UI choices.
[1] Add Attachment Data to Viewer Sidebar: https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/101964/add-attatchment-data-to-viewer-sidebar?new=1
Hopefully the Attachment Info and Attachment Note can be added to the Viewer, since it's confusing that we land on Item Data (Info, Tags, Related) when navigating from the Library to the Viewer (which views Attachments, not Items). Then, the sidebar could be updated to make it clear what kind of data you're looking at by grouping data by hierarchy (Attachment, Item, Library) into sidebar Views (the little iconic tabs on the sidebar, as opposed to the tabs for the Item Data). For cohesion, I'd recommend using icons for Attachment, Item, and Library that are dynamic, using the same icon seen in the Library for the respective Attachment (e.g. a PDF, a PDF with a link, heck any icon to future-proof the ui for the possibility of viewing other file types in the Viewer!) and Item (Document, Case, Interview, Thesis, etc.). That way working with data and metadata are as clear in the Viewer as they are in the Library.
Finally, the Library-level View which currently shows the Item Notes and All Notes is great: it leaves room for future Library-wide tools like cross-referencing which would be supercharged by the ability to view two or more Attachments side-by-side in the same tab. As a small suggestion however, I don't think the Item Notes section should replace the tab in Item Data; it's not cluttery to keep the tab in the Item View and keeps the tabset identical to the Library.
I know there's a lot to unpack here; to keep the conversation focused, please see the other Discussion I've linked above and, if there's interest in me unpacking the side-by-side viewing idea more, I'm happy to discuss that in another thread. This thread is for feature requesting the changes to the Attachment Viewer UI which logically follow from the above Attachment Data feature request.
[1] Add Attachment Data to Viewer Sidebar: https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/101964/add-attatchment-data-to-viewer-sidebar?new=1
Hopefully the Attachment Info and Attachment Note can be added to the Viewer, since it's confusing that we land on Item Data (Info, Tags, Related) when navigating from the Library to the Viewer (which views Attachments, not Items). Then, the sidebar could be updated to make it clear what kind of data you're looking at by grouping data by hierarchy (Attachment, Item, Library) into sidebar Views (the little iconic tabs on the sidebar, as opposed to the tabs for the Item Data). For cohesion, I'd recommend using icons for Attachment, Item, and Library that are dynamic, using the same icon seen in the Library for the respective Attachment (e.g. a PDF, a PDF with a link, heck any icon to future-proof the ui for the possibility of viewing other file types in the Viewer!) and Item (Document, Case, Interview, Thesis, etc.). That way working with data and metadata are as clear in the Viewer as they are in the Library.
Finally, the Library-level View which currently shows the Item Notes and All Notes is great: it leaves room for future Library-wide tools like cross-referencing which would be supercharged by the ability to view two or more Attachments side-by-side in the same tab. As a small suggestion however, I don't think the Item Notes section should replace the tab in Item Data; it's not cluttery to keep the tab in the Item View and keeps the tabset identical to the Library.
I know there's a lot to unpack here; to keep the conversation focused, please see the other Discussion I've linked above and, if there's interest in me unpacking the side-by-side viewing idea more, I'm happy to discuss that in another thread. This thread is for feature requesting the changes to the Attachment Viewer UI which logically follow from the above Attachment Data feature request.
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adamsmithWhat are you actually trying to *do* to though? It's much more helpful to think of workflows/use cases (or user stories if we must...) to than starting out with detailed UI proposals